Masaaki Kukino leaves SNKPlaymore

Neithan from Bas Gros Poing is reporting that Masaaki Kukineo, producer of KOF XII and XIII, left SNKPlaymore in November. This news creates some doubt about the port of KOF XIII. Furthermore, sources within SNKP are reporting that the new president, Ryo Mizufune, wants to shut down the video game division and focus on licensing instead, such as porting old titles and creating pachinko games and figures. With the lack of news regarding the console release of XIII, the future for King of Fighters is looking bleak.

23 comments

Aw man. There just can’t be any doubt about the KOFXIII port! That would be some sad, sad news.
Sounds like SNKP is getting reorganized, and that’s hopefully good for the company, but no more development of video games would spell doom for any further KOF incarnations. Please, just please allow KOFXIII to make it to console. Don’t let holding it back be the last legacy of an otherwise wholly promising game.

“…shut down the video game division and focus on licensing instead, such as porting old titles and creating pachinko games and figures.”

This kind of explains why there’s been relatively few physical ports in the past year (the only ones I can rattle off are Metal Slug XX and Neogeo Heroes Ultimate Shooting for the PSP and Samurai Shodown Sen for the X-Box 360). Still, this sounds very much like what Aruze wanted to do with SNK when they took over ownership in 2000. Nothing good can come from this; I can only hope that someone tells Ryo Mizufune that he’s making a big mistake- one that could lead to SNKP’s demise (should that happen, I can only hope that another videogame company rescues SNKP’s IPs).

Sorry to come off as an asshole but i just hope that the bootleggers somehow release XIII for pc like they did with BB CS in January of last year. I will but an eventual port asap SHOULD it come out in the future, but i want to play XIII too and there s no way i m paying 10k+ $ just to try it out. Hackers, do your job and save us;)

If The King of Fighters game series was to come to end, that would basically ruin the company considering that was their greatest profit. Sure the King of Fighters XII didn’t make a good revue but the The King of Fighters XIII shows that it has fixed its mistakes to improve the gameing experianes.

Now, that is a real Dream Cancel. I was actually looking forward to playing KOF XIII. And if they stop the KOF series, that’s one less crossover chance for Capcom. I know everyone wants a CvS3 to come out, especially me.

Come on SNK. You say “The Future is Now”, so don’t end the KOF series. It may be complicated and make almost no sense, but darn it, we love it.

Man, what the hell, SNKP? Your games have been your bread and butter and you are going to kill that?
Considering how KOF XIII was hyped up for some time now, it would be a waste for it to never reach the consoles.

This is quite disturbing news for SNK fans. But this might be necessary. I don’t think its the definite end of KoF or any other SNK franchises, and at this point they probably will release XIII to consoles so people shouldn’t worry about that part. But as for the future…its gonna be up to all of us. We may end up having to become like the SF community and cling to out titles and try and build hype and tournaments as best as possible. Its gonna require effort on everyone’s part and people making sacrifices and pitching in to keep things going. If not, then SNK may not ever come back. Just remember the plight of the SF community and how it paid off after ten years of loyalty and struggle. This song is fitting for the situation imo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TXXbd4Tjoc

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